The Lavington on-baller had missed four previous matches with either injury or illness.

"Yeah, it was obviously disappointing not to play those three years in a row and then I missed another one before that, so fifth time lucky," he said.

Hargreave, 24, spoke last year how "shattered" he was to miss the clash against Western Region after injuring his quad at representative training.

"I've persisted with it, I always wanted to play O and M and being in the squad for that long gave me a bit more motivation," he said.

"It's finally good to get here without an injury.

"I've been playing senior footy since I was 16, so I've really wanted to play O and M, especially at our club with (former interleague players) 'Penda' (Matt Pendergast), 'Stevo' (Kade Stevens), all those sort of players, you get the feel for it and wanted to give it a go."

Hargreave's been one of Lavington's most consistent players in recent years and featured in the best in three of the past four games.

Importantly, those efforts have been against finals teams from last year, highlighting his ability to rise to another level.

He was superb early against grand finalists Wangaratta, weaving out of trouble to land a goal early in the second term and grab the lead.

Rosebud's Olympic Oval will host the game from 1pm.